Casey Anthony verdict: Top 10 reasons the jury could be wrong

By IBT Staff Reporter On 07/06/11 AT 2:37 PM

Casey Anthony took up to 31 days before reporting that her daughter Caylee went missing. This raised many concerns and was determined to be one of the major points that could lead to Casey’s guilty conviction. The failure to report her missing child was considered devastating to the defense and showed that the mother was not in grief or holding a guilty conscience. Photo: Reuters

Questions remained unanswered as of how Caylee died. Some descriptions involved Casey killing the 2 year old Caylee while another story told of the toddler’s accidental drowning in a swimming pool. The factual evidence was that Caylee’s mouth was covered with duct tape after she was dead. Questions arose on why the duct tape was applied in the case of an accidental drowning. The death was not accidental and it was said that Casey kept it a secret.
Prosecutors said Casey killed Caylee by using chloroform to suffocate the toddler then duct taping her mouth and nose. Other signs of a non-accidental death involved an absent report that was received 31 days later and that Caylee’s remains were disposed of in bags. Photo: Reuters

Brian Burner, the Anthony family’s neighbor, said that Casey approached him to ask for a shovel. She planned to borrow the shovel in order to “dig up a bamboo root.” It was June 18th, 2008 when this event occurred. Burner also testified that he saw Casey’s car at her home on June 16th, the same day that Caylee supposedly drowned by accident. Photo: REUTERS

Casey was described as annoyed and agitated when her mother was not able to care for Caylee, preventing Casey from attending parties.
Casey’s former best friend, Amy Huizenga testified about the relationship between Casey and her mother during that time.
“It was hard. Her mom was continually agitated with her," Huizenga says. "I remember she (Casey) told me her mom had told her she was an unfit mother. She was extremely upset about that."
Casey’s party cancellations became more frequent in 2008 spring since no one was able to look after Caylee. Persecutors have accused her of sacrificing her daughter in order to maintain her carefree and fun filled life. Photo: REUTERS

Tony Lazaro, Casey’s former boyfriend, described Casey as happy and carefree the day Caylee was last seen alive, June 16th. According to his testimony, Casey never appeared "worried, depressed or angry.”
Another former boyfriend, Ricardo Morales, described Casey as “happy” and “smiling” when he was together with Casey on July 15th. That was the same day that Casey called authorities to report that Caylee is missing. Photo: Reuters

Forensic examiners investigated computers used by Casey and discovered online keyword searches such as “how to make chloroform,” “inhalation,” “alcohol,” “neck breaking,” and “self defense.” It was 3 months before Caylee was reported missing that these searches were made. Other searches included “Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez" made on July 16, 2008. No searches of that name were made anytime before that date. According to forensics investigation, a website related to chloroform was visited over 80 times.
The search history was deleted, but investigators were still able to recover data found in the hard drive. Photo: REUTERS

A series of evidence involving flies and decomposition related remains showed that Caylee’s body was transported multiple times before ending up in the wooded field area. A certain type of fly called a blowfly, are attracted to fresh decomposing bodies. Phorid flies are the type of insects that are attracted once the body goes into the latter stage of decomposition.
According to investigators, traces of those flies were found in the wooded area as well as inside the vacuum cleaner used to clean the car’s trunk. The findings showed that Caylee’s corpse was first stored in the car’s trunk, then later dumped into the wooded area. It was argued that these types of flies are only attracted to decomposing bodies and not by other trash items such as pizza boxes or soda cans. Photo: REUTERS

Defense attorney Jose Baez described Caylee’s death as "an accident that snowballed out of control." Things did get out of control starting with one bizarre scenario where Casey Anthony lied about a fictional person named Zanny the Nanny. Casey described Zenida Fernandez-Gonzalez (Zanny the nanny) as Caylee's babysitter for almost two years and that she kidnapped the toddler. Casey’s lie was first heard by brother Lee Anthony after he persistently asked to see Caylee.
"She just looked at me with no reaction...Then at that time she told me that she had not seen Caylee in 31 days, that she had been kidnapped and that the nanny took her," Lee says.
Casey speaks out about her made up story about Zanny the Nanny.
"I lied to everyone. What was I supposed to say? I trust my daughter with some psycho. How does that look?" Casey tells Tony Lazzaro, her former boyfriend. "I am the dumbest person and the worst mother. I honestly hate myself." Photo: Reuters

Hair samples were found in the trunk of Casey’s car that belonged to Caylee. The hair was described with the root banning by FBI expert Karen Korsberg, meaning that the hair belonged to a decomposing body. There were darkened bands from the root and the hair was similar to samples found on Caylee’s hairbrush.
The mitochondrial DNA testing has linked the hair to Caylee but acknowledges it was not absolutely determined the hair came from Caylee Anthony. Photo: Reuters

Casey’s mother Cindy testified about getting a notice from the car towing company in regards to Casey’s Pontiac Sunfire being abandoned. Simon Birch, the tow company manager, along with Cindy and Casey’s father George all testified about the strong and unique odor of decomposition coming from the car. There was also Caylee’s doll in the backseat and backpack in the trunk of the car. Photo: REUTERS

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The not guilty verdict continues to shock people around the country as Casey Anthony has been declared innocent by an 11-member jury after six weeks of trial that included testimonies of over 70 witnesses, stories of dysfunctional behavior and other disturbing evidence.

The jury found Casey innocent from first degree murder but found her guilty for misleading police investigation. Based on the evidence and scenarios displayed throughout the trial, we present 10 reasons why the jury could be wrong in their decision.